Whole Foods Opens With a Splash, Breaking of Bread

The Huntington Station Whole Foods was christened with Council members Sal Ferro and  Theresa Mari literally breaking a loaf of bread at 7:30 on Wednesday morning.

What proceeded felt more like a festival than a corporate event with a live DJ, custom tote bags and food samples from Oishii strawberries and Sail Away Coffee Co. and shoppers swarming through the doors.

“At a time retail is down, Whole Foods is thriving… When Whole Foods does something, they go all out. This is one of the best grand openings I’ve ever been to,”  Ferro said.

The shop at 350 Walt Whitman Road will be the seventh location on Long Island.

Margaret Benjamin from Old Bethpage said that he location and the quality of this new Whole Foods gave it an edge over her typical grocery store. “ I love the fresh produce and the great deals on the 365 brands. I’m certain this will be my new go to.”

“We try to put a lot of attention into working with local suppliers to grow sustainably, and not necessarily throwing them into the marketplace unprepared,” commented Carrie Rodgers, a corporate communications manager from Whole Foods.

Before the opening, protesters from PETA known as the “monkeys” wer e asked to leave the shopping center. “We were on site in the morning but  were told to move off of the premises.” said Reed Bolonyi, a public relations coordinator wit h PETA.  A small cohort of police remained throughout the opening.

PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has suggested that several companies that Whole Foods sources their coconut milk from have used pig-tailed macaques in their harvesting process. The macaques are taken at a young age and trained using violent tactics to pick the coconuts, PETA says. According to PETA, “Because the industry and the Thai government lie about their systemic reliance on forced monkey labor, it’s impossible to guarantee that any coconut milk from Thailand is free of it.”

Whole Foods issued an official statement in response, saying “ We take this issue seriously and have previously confirmed our private label suppliers do not use animal labor in producing these products. We have reinvestigated this issue out of an abundance of caution and have again confirmed that coconuts from Thailand used in these products are harvested without the use of animal labor.”

More Stores Moving Into Huntington Shopping Center